Christopher Morley travelled to Germany to celebrate the genius of Bonn’s favourite son.

Don’t ever again let them try to tell you that German trains always run on time. They don’t.

On Friday I arrived at Dusseldorf’s busy airport, and found my way via the efficient Skytrain service to the railway station proper – where there was an ominous silence from the relevant platform’s indicator board.

Eventually the Rhine Express, taking me to my destination, Bonn, turned up several minutes late, and crowded to the gunwales. The double-decker train disgorged itself at Dusseldorf Central, but took on even more commuters, and then waited an age before moving off.

The same thing happened at Cologne, and I was beginning to get scratchy. My schedule was tight, anyway, with only just enough time to check in at my hotel, freshen up, and get myself to the opening concert of this year’s BeethovenFest celebrations of Bonn’s favourite son.

But once arrived, the taxi threaded me through the rush-hour traffic and deposited me at my hotel, all the tension vanishing. No-one could be stressed at finding themselves in a fourth-floor room in the luxurious but surprisingly inexpensive Konigshof Hotel on the banks of the Rhine, with a full-width window overlooking that mighty, magical river.

The Beethovenhalle was a short walk away along its banks.

I need not have feared missing the opening item of the concert, as proceedings began a little late, and there were 35 minutes of speeches from various dignitaries before even one note was played.

The concluding speech had relevance for all of us, coming from Dr Jose Antonio Abreu, patron of this year’s festival, and, perhaps more importantly, founder 35 years ago of “El Sistema”.

This utopian vision took children of the Venezuelan slums, provided them each with musical instruments and tuition, and showed them an alternative to life on the streets.

The staggering success of this initiative has been acclaimed worldwide, not least when the Youth Orchestra of Venezuela under its charismatic conductor Gustavo Dudamel wowed the Proms audience in London’s Royal Albert Hall a few years ago. They are due to perform here in Bonn for the first time on September 28.

In his speech, interpreted from his native Spanish, Dr Abreu paid tribute to the interest taken by Simon Rattle in El Sistema, and pointed out that by reaching out with a sense of brotherhood and equality to all young people, they are fulfilling Beethoven’s idealistic vision.

And it was heartening to stroll Bonn’s ancient streets the next morning hearing and seeing youngsters performing music of all kinds so enthusiastically on many strategically-placed temporary platforms throughout the city: a Bonn ArtsFest, no less.

But back to the Beethovenhalle, and the concerts I heard there, two of them given by the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, once under the baton of Daniel Harding and now directed by former CBSO principal guest conductor Paavo Jarvi.

The main works were two symphonies by Schumann, the hard-working Second, poorly-structured, never knowing when to stop, but with a wonderful slow movement, and the exhilarating Third, the Rhenish, so exhilarating to hear it on the banks of the Rhine, of which it is such a vivid soundscape. Both were energetically delivered (fabulous horns and trombones outstanding).

They gave us several overtures: Manfred by Schumann, whose bicentenary year this is, rather hectic under Jarvi’s forceful conducting; and two by Beethoven (Leonore no.3, where tension and release were the name of the game, and a sparkling Prometheus). Symphonic movements by the composer were two of Jarvi’s encores. The third was an extraordinarily delicate Sibelius Valse Turiste.

The Bremen players accompanied highly popular young soloists in concertos. Sol Gabetta played the Schumann Cello Concerto for the first time, and did her utmost to make sense of its distressing meanderings.

Pianist Helene Grimaud delivered Beethoven’s Emperor with both clarity and strongly-weighted chording, seemingly not put off by a medical emergency in the audience which necessitated a second start to the slow movement – probably the heat in that pre-concert SpeechFest was to blame.

There were yet more speeches. During Saturday’s concert – I’ll wager some of the punters roughing it watching the live public screening in the Munsterplatz were less than gruntled – the Bremen Orchestra was presented with the German record-critics’ prize for 2010.

At Sunday’s concert with the Bavarian State Orchestra conductor Kent Nagano collected the Wilhelm Furtwangler 2010 prize, celebrating with a Furtwangler “special”, the wonderful Seventh Symphony of Anton Bruckner.

A little bit of Bremen comes to the Midlands next month, when singers from that north German city travel to Worcester to join the Midlands Festival Chorus performing a varied programme including Te Deums by Bruckner and Kodaly, in the city’s cathedral on October 9.

Now in its 36th year, the Midlands Festival Chorus gives one concert annually, and this year will be joined for the first time by the locally-based English Symphony Orchestra. Conductor Malcolm Goldring explains the ethos behind the enterprise.

“Midland Festival Chorus has recently been developing a scheme to encourage young singers to join this extraordinary choir, and I’m thrilled it’s really taken off this year.

“To make it even more noteworthy, we’ll be welcoming two students from north Germany. I met them when I was conducting last September in Saxony and encouraged them to come over. This will be their first visit to the United Kingdom, and I know they’re working hard – using pre-recorded tapes of their vocal lines – prepare themselves for the two rehearsals we have in October.

“It’s so important to develop these kinds of links, not just for artistic reasons but to show how music can cross national boundaries: it’s a common language for everybody. We will be so excited to welcome them, along with other new singers.

“More than 240 singers now converge on Worcester, travelling from all over the UK, from France, Spain, the Channel Islands, and now from Germany, to come together to make wonderful music in such a special city and cathedral.”

The two German students are 19-year-old Ihnke Rieken and her 20-year-old boyfriend Florian, coming over from Bremen especially for the event.

“Florian and I are both very happy to come and sing with the Midland Festival Chorus, and of course to come and visit England for the first time,” enthuses Ihnke.

“I saw Malcolm conduct and I am very excited to sing in a choir conducted by him. We are both looking forward to practising our English and to meeting many singers from England and other countries. The pieces we will sing are great music and a reason for joy for every singer.”

* The Midland Festival Chorus and English Symphony Orchestra perform at Worcester Cathedral on Saturday October 9 (7.30pm). Details on 01905 611427.